One Voice | Government Advocacy for the Metalworking Industry

A coalition of companies that at least partly rely on foreign steel to make thousands of products and employ more than 1 million workers have urged Trump not to slap duties on imported steel in the name of national security under the rarely used Section 232 of the Trade Expansion Act of 1962.

“We are very concerned about the unintended and disastrous consequences which Section 232 restrictions on imports of basic steel products would have on our industries,” the groups said in a letter to Trump. “Import restrictions … would impact both the availability and price of steel raw materials, placing downstream industries at crippling competitive disadvantage to foreign manufacturers of our product.”

In the long run, U.S. steel companies could also suffer if domestic steel-consuming industries lose business to foreign competitors that are able to make the same product at a lower price, the groups warned. “Without a viable customer base — the downstream steel manufactures and our customers — the domestic steel mills will suffer from less demand and loss of markets,” they said.

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